§ MR. JAMES O'CONNOR (Wicklow, W.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury how many clerks have entered the Home Civil Service under the Higher Division scheme of examination since 1891; how many, if any, of such clerks are at present in receipt of salaries in excess of that which they would have attained under their ordinary service scale of pay; what is the amount of such salaries; and to what Departments are the clerks attached; and how many of the clerks entered since 1891 are now chief clerks; what is the date of their entrance; and the amount of their present salaries.
§ MR. HANBURYThe number of clerks who have entered the Home Civil Service under the Class I. Examination since 1891 is 124. There is no "ordinary service scale of pay" common to all these clerks, nor is there any definite grade of chief clerks extending throughout the service. It is therefore impossible for me to answer the question in its present form, and, while a Return might be given covering the points which the hon. Member presumably wishes to raise, the labour involved in its preparation would be very considerable, and the return, when complete, would not be of sufficient value to justify it.